Plans for the year were revealed at NFYFC’s Council meeting when steering group chairs shared their ideas for activities and events in 2024.
Local farm visits, plans to develop educational resources on reducing our carbon footprint and aims for National Young Farmers’ Week were among the proposals.
A round up of headlines from the meeting is below for each Steering Group.
YFC AGRI
Chair Luke Cox from Wiltshire and Vice Chair Robbie Tuer from Cumbria.
Actions:
- Regional and county link representatives were encouraged to organise engaging farm visits for knowledge exchange and discussion.
- Help young farmers access the finance they need to produce food.
- Work is planned to create an interactive map on the NFYFC website outlining opportunities and programming ideas for clubs and counties.
- Continued engagement with policymakers.
- Collaboration between YFCs and relevant organisations to help reduce food waste.
The group also expressed their desire to see a new entrant scheme that works for young farmers.
There was a call out for any YFC members who would like to take part in a future Defra podcast episode – especially those who are looking to apply to the SFI scheme.
YFC AGRI will be holding meetings every six weeks on Tuesday evenings and the next one is scheduled for 9 April 2024. All YFC members are welcome to join – please email sarah.palmer@nfyfc.org.uk to get involved.
Competitions
Chair William Longmire from Cumbria and Eleanor Gassor from Wiltshire
Actions:
- The steering group are looking for a Tug of War rep to go to Association meetings. This is open to anyone who has an interest or insight into Tug of War. They would also like a rep for the English Winter Fair. Please contact Margaret.bennett@nfyfc.org.uk if you are interested.
- Council agreed that members who have joined more than one club can compete for two different counties in different competitions. Read more information about this decision.
- Members will be fined £40 per person and £100 per team at the national finals if they are not present at the presentation of awards without prior notice.
- Tickets will go on sale for the Performing Arts competition on 2 April 2024 at the Spa Centre in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire. The final will be held over two days and the order of competing teams is 20 April: Wales B, Wales A, West Midlands, Northern Area A. Sunday 21 April will be South West Area (SWA) A, SWA B, Northern Area B and East Midlands.
- The group also shared that Competitions Day is on 6 July and JCB will be offering a VIP factory tour and day out prize for the winners of the Farm Machinery Skills competition.
- Sports day will be on 7 July at Keele University in Staffordshire.
- Tug of War judges course is running again on 23-24 March at the Staffordshire County Office.
- The 2024/2025 Competition rules are being finalised and will be discussed at the next meeting.
Membership and Marketing
Chair James Nixey from Buckinghamshire and Jessica Rose from Nottinghamshire
Actions
- The YFC Achiever Awards will take place at the NCC on Saturday 2 November. Nominations will open at the end of March and this year interviews will be included in the judging process.
- National Young Farmers’ Week is on 7-11 October and the theme is inclusivity and diversity. The group are seeking case studies from clubs or individuals who want to share their stories.
- Digital projects for the year ahead include adding a sponsorship and partnership section to the NFYFC website as well as events listings. Dual membership information will be included on Silo and work has started on enabling the NFYFC membership card to be added to Apple and Google wallets.
Personal Development
Chair Megan Bailey from Warwickshire, Vice Chair to be elected at the next meeting.
Actions:
- There will be no minimum amount of time that someone must be in membership before applying for the YFC Travel programme and there will be no limit to the number of trips during their time in YFC.
- The trophy for the best travel presentation will be awarded at the AGM in April.
- Equality, diversity and inclusion training was discussed for future workshops for staff and members.
- YFC members are attending a range of trips this year and new destinations are being planned for 2025 and will be launched in September.
- The next County Chairs' training will be combined with county staff training.
- The next online Chairs' forum will be held on Zoom on Monday 22 April.
- Two Train the Trainer sessions are coming up (9 March in Lincolnshire and 16/17 March in Devon)
Youth Forum
Michael Wilkinson, Notts and Vice Chair position is still open.
- Attendance in the Youth Forum meetings has been reduced this year, but members have been attending steering groups.
- Youth Forum members will now join Steering Groups of their choice. The terms of reference for the group will be changed.
- The Youth Forum is seeking funding for a club and county resource to educate about carbon footprint and sustainability.
During the meeting, NFYFC’s Board of Management also updated Council on NFYFC finances and the changes to members of the Board.
YFC members can speak to their Council Reps for more feedback from the meeting.
